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HARDWOOD RECORD 



tli;it the Now York Tjiimbpr Tiado Association is al)oiit "I lie wliolo 

 tiling" in lunil)er association all'airs. 



Tliis assuniption is just now Ix-iofj nianit'cstiHl Iiv a letter that lias 

 \H-cn put out, mnlor instructions from its board of trustees, advisinf; 

 all nicudiers not to ally tlienisolves with the National Hardwood Lum- 

 ber Association or any otiier national association. The orj;anizatiou 

 has also appealed to the exchanges of Boston, Philadel]dna and Hal- 

 tiniore to .ioiu it in a meeting to be held at Xew York within a few 

 days for the purirose of authorizing and putting into effect a set 

 of hardwood insjXM'tion rules to govern the purchase, sale and in 

 spection of lumber in tln' Kast. The New York association has also 

 very generously jireparod this set of rules and regulations, which it 

 asks its neighboring cities to indorse. Incident to correspondence 

 with till' various exchanges it refers to the rules of the National 

 Harilwood Ijumoer .Vssociatiou adopted at Atlantic City last May. 

 which go into etfect Dec. I next, as "drastic"' and indulges in .-i lot 

 of other rot equally silly. 



The New York Lumber Trade Association comprises practically 

 the totality of the retail and wholesale element of that city, but as 

 before noted, it is absolutely dominated by the retailers. An 

 analysis of its makeup reveals that more than ninety per cent of the 

 membership is engaged in the handling of building woods. In 

 the face of this fact it has the monumental ett'rontery to attempt to 

 dictate and foist upon the vast hardwood manufacturing sections of 

 the country a set of grading rules which shall govern inspection of 

 lumber in the East. As a matter of fact the hardwood operators of 

 importance in the metropolis may be counted upon the fingers of one 

 hand. 



The amended rules of the National Hardwood Lumber Association, 

 which go into effect the iirst of next month, are not "drastic." 

 They conform very closely with customs which have prevailed in the 

 trade for some years. They conform very closely also — at least in 

 net inspection results — with the rules of the Hardwood Manufac- 

 turers' Association of the United States. This system of grading 

 has been acceptable and accepted in the markets of the East for sev- 

 eral years, and this attempt on the part of the New York Lumber 

 Trade Association to back up practically one man in an effort to 

 upset all the good work that has been done for the past ten years, 

 toward unifying hardwood inspection, is much to be deplored. That 

 it will be an abject failure of course goes without saying, for it is 

 totally out of harmony with the spirit of the times, but it is 

 unfortunate that even the attempt is countenanced. The lumber deal- 

 ers of Baltimore have turned the proposition down hard and it is be- 

 lieved that even those manufacturers and dealers who were not pri- 

 marily friendly to the set of rules adopted at Atlantic City last sjiring 

 will now stand by the National associaion to a man. 



The meat in the cocoanut is just this: For years New York City 

 succeeded in buying its hardwood lumber under its own inspection 

 rules. Tliere was nothing particularly wrong with these rules; 

 there is nothing jiarticularly wrong with the set of rules they now 

 promulgate; but the antagonism to them on the part of sellers of 

 lumber lay in the fact that their application was entirely in the 

 hands of the buyer. New York yards had their own yard inspectors 

 i|ualified as official inspectors of the local association, and the shijiper 

 had no more show of a sijuare deal in the New York market, save bv 

 accident, than the jiroverbial snowball in The Hot Place. 



With the natural inborn selfishness of the Manhattanite, he seeks 

 a recrudescence of this system. He can't get it, tor any lumberman 

 with the brains of a nit would never again consent to ship his lumber 

 to that market under the old New York system of applying its asso- 

 ciation rules. 



Help One Another. 



During the last few weeks commercial and financial adventurers 

 have come mighty near throwing this great and prosperous country 

 into a panic. Fortunately good sense has jn-evailed and the crisis is 

 over. However, a lot of damage has been done. Money, with its 

 usual sensitiveness, has gone into hiding, and confidence must needs 

 be fully restored before it can be brought out and put to legitimate 

 use. These are times when cverv man should do his utmost to liebi 



his neighbor. It is a time when e\i'ry man should go to the utmost 

 limits to pay his bills. A week of manifestation of this spirit 

 woidd set everything right again. 



As a distinct example of good sense, a iiriiiniiiciit and wealthy 

 New York lundierman issued a letter to his custonuTs, stating that 

 if their banking facilities had been shut off he W(mld be glad to 

 assist them to keep their Inisiness in operation by advancing them 

 the necessary cash to meet pay-rolls, etc. Singular as it may seem 

 this man, during the first week of the suspension of cash- payment by 

 numerous New York banks, was called upon to loan but $2,000. The 

 very letter inspired confidence, and tlial is all that is needed. The 

 country is all right! 



A Just Demand for Recognition. 



For years the H.\KD\vooi) Kec'Ord has been a strenuous advocate 

 of the intrinsic merits of the birch of the North for interior finish, 

 furniture and kindred purposes. It has repeatedly deprecated the 

 fact that the wood is not receiving from manufacturers the recog- 

 nition that it should. It has insisted that birch is a great wood 

 and at the lowest estimate of character ranks at least next to 

 the best quality of Indiana white oak. 



A prominent Wisconsin hardwood manufacturing conceru has 

 just issued a handsome illustrated pamphlet analyzing birch and 

 its possibilities, which was written by H. A. Callahan, and which 

 was originally published in the American Carpenter and Builder. 

 An abstract of the writer's deductions on this subject, which cor- 

 respond very closely to the opinions hitherto expressed b.y the 

 Becord follows: 



No depth of expert knowledge is needed to enable one to ap- 

 preciate beauty wlien seen. 



Birch, in its uses for decorative purposes, lias ne^'er had its 

 due. It has not been maligned — simply uusuuderstood. Birch is 

 versatile. That, perhaps, is its weali as neil as its strong point. 

 It is compelled to masquerade throushout its use as aimost 

 everything but itself. You have birch imitation of mahogany, 

 of walnut, of cherry. The imitators arc indiscriminate. Great 

 will be the gratitude of the birch enthusiast the day some of these 

 Imitators, in a momeut of carelessness, imitate birch with birch. 

 Nine men out of ten. in discussing the wood, will invariably malic 

 preeminent to all its other qualities its readiness to take ma 

 hogauy stains. A finisher will take white birch, beautiful in itself 

 in the natural or slightly darker stain, and daub it up with a 

 thick, gluey mixture, and behold, you have mahogany ! Well, 

 now, have you? As a matter of fact, you have not mahogany 

 and you have not birch. "It is neither fish nor fowl." In some 

 varieties of red birch, when used in small pieces and furniture, 

 it may 'ake experts to detect the imitaticm. but never in broad 

 paneling. In the majority of cases, as mentioned before, birch 

 is used as a counterfeit, the only difference being that the coun- 

 terfeit in itself is of greater beauty than the material it counter- 

 feits. 



This indiscriminate abuse of what is perhaps our most beau- 

 tiful American wood has made hii-cli a martyr, and we fear its 

 real worth may never bo duly appreciated until, like many other 

 things, its supply begins to grow scarce. 



Ked birch, with its variety of curly birch, of course is used in 

 imitation work with much more sense and Justice than white 

 l>irch. It is darker than the latter, and the resemblance of grain 

 and figure is closer, but the very qualities that rtader the simu- 

 lation possible arc i|ualities which in themselves make birch the 

 ideal decorative wiKd of America. It has richness of tone and fig- 

 ure. It is not porous and requires no filling, consequently takes 

 a very high polish. There is nothing garish about it ; it has 

 dignity and stability. It is easily worked, and when properlv 

 dried shrinks very little and holds its shape. There is no pulling 

 apart at the joints. It is true, birch is liable to wind checks in 

 the growing tree, but this fault is easily obvi.nted by selecting the 

 wood. As far as wi' know this is the only fault, and not a great 

 one at that. It might be called the aristocrat of woods. 



There is no great objection to the use of birch for any In- 

 herent fault in the wood itself. It is simply "damned with faint 

 praise." bet us take up the numerous objections usually offered 

 for the non-use of any particular building material — price, sup- 

 ply, working (lualitics. durability and appearance. Bir'-h is plenti- 

 ful, hut, more than that, it is accessible. The New England and 

 I'astern slates have vast quantities of it. In the upper peninsula 

 of .Michigan, in a great many vicinities known for their white 

 pine and hemlock, birch is practically the only good hardwood. 

 Throughout -Minaesola and Wisconsin it is quite the same. This 

 country is ilose tn the lumber manufacturing markets naturally, 

 and the lumber in sight will last for many years to come. Coii- 

 sequenlly we lind birch selling at maple prices, a wood whose 

 chief merit is its durability. We find Ijirch selling far below 

 plain oak or ash. its inferiors in working qualities, and we ven- 

 ture to add. at the risk of controvers.v, in appearance and dura- 

 bility. Plain white or plain red bircli is fairly plentiful at the 

 present demand. Its price is low. Curly birch is scarce In the 

 same proportions. Its price is high. 



